Dusk just wanted to go to a picnic with his best friends before spending a relaxing weekend reading, but fate had other plans; namely his older brother's surprise wedding. Rainbow Dash and Rarity broke up, or at least Rainbow thinks they did. Canterlot has been threatened, and the one behind it is closer to the throne than ever. The guards put in place to combat the danger are being lead by Shining Armor's second-in-command Spearhead Sentry, who is spending more time fussing over his little brother Flash and being scared out of his mind by the fearsomely enigmatic Captain Spitfire to focus on training. Princess Luna and her personal guard of vampiric soldiers walk the streets enforcing a curfew, keeping the citizens safe at the expense of their freedoms. Dusk's old friends from school, the bridesmaids in the upcoming wedding between their own best friend and his older brother, miss him... but he doesn't even remember them anymore. The Queen of the Changelings is mobilizing her forces to destroy Princess Celestia and steal the Elements of Harmony, and she doesn't care how many innocent lives she destroys to do it...

The pieces are in place, and Dusk will have a lot on his plate over the next few days. It's a good thing he won't be facing it alone.

/x/x/x/

Fireflies AU: all equine characters are human, all other characters are anthro, and Twilight has been gender-flipped to Dusk Shine. This is just a snippet of the main story to showcase certain select aspects of worldbuilding, character backstory, lore, and the way magic operates in this AU, as well as the way I utilize retroactive continuity to bring characters introduced later on in the series than the Season 2 finale into play [such as Sunset Shimmer, Flash Sentry, Minuette, Thorax, Starlight, Sunburst, Tempest, and others pending Season 8 and whenever the fifth Equestria Girls movie is released] as well as events from the comics in order to allow for more plot developments. A teaser of sorts for the real thing, if you will. I also make many characters siblings (Spearhead and Flash), and make many other characters openly LGBT or otherwise queer.
Ships: contains Raridash, Dusk Shine X Flash Sentry, allusions to PinkieJack and ScootaBelle, one-sided crushes from Fluttershy to Rainbow and Rarity, from Minuette and Celestia to Dusk, and from Flash Sentry to Sunset Shimmer.
Sex tag for Rainbow and Rarity being intimate, Chrysalis having freaky bug sex, an allusion to an attempted rape, and for a frank discussion between Dusk and Flash about being queer.
Gore tag for Thorax getting his ass kicked in, an unnamed character getting his ass kicked in, bloodied and dead soldiers and changelings, and for an attempted gallows hanging.